iminatively_ hereafter.
Instead of making up your mind about people without knowing just how or
why you arrive at your judgments, classify your intuitions
scientifically. Know the reasons for your opinions. You can be sure
about the conclusions you reach as a result of your _specific, exact
observation of details_. The study and analysis of words, tones, and
acts, coupled with a little painstaking practice, will make you an
expert judge of other men.

[Sidenote: Study Character Unobserved]

Do not seem to make an effort to observe the person you are sizing up,
for that would impress him disagreeably. Without indicating that you are
watching him, mentally note and interpret his muscle structure, his
manner of speaking, his gestures, the rate of his physical activity, the
way his actions respond to his ideas, the type and tensity of his
movements. _Each item you analyze and translate should indicate to you
clearly some fact about the inner man._

Of course you will not be able to read your prospect thoroughly in the
first few moments after you meet him. It is possible to make only a
partial size-up then. No one would reveal _all_ his characteristics in
such a brief time. _But each indication you perceive and interpret
correctly will aid you to attribute to him certain other, related
traits._ For instance, if the actions of a man indicate the
characteristic of evasion, you may judge safely that he lacks courage,
the highest sense of honor, some of the elements of perfect squareness
and trustworthiness. If he has a habit of under-estimating or
"knocking," and manifests this characteristic in something he says or
does, you may feel certain he is not an idealist. He is likely to be
pretty "practical" in his views, and cannot be won by appeals to rosy
visions.

[Sidenote: Elements of Character are Consistent]

Analysis of a man's true character usually shows that its elements are
thoroughly consistent. A human being is not a bundle of contradictions,
but an aggregation of likenesses. Every man differs from every _other_
man; yet, generally speaking, one element of his character is not apt to
differ radically from another detail of _himself_. There are exceptions,
but in most cases the seeming contradictions in an individual are only
apparent opposites. Supposed inconsistencies cause surprise because the
true fundamental traits of the person observed are not discerned. The
_outer_ man often seems to contradict himself. Bu